Time flies so fast, 5 years have come and gone. Soon, it will be time for me to retire 😛 My first translated novel was written by one of my favorite authors, turtle Man. We may be slow but rest assured that we will crawl to the finishing line with you. The blog was originally setup by hui3r but she had gone AWOL. Who knows if she will come back or be gone forever? It was fated that I ended up taking over the blog and having hoju to fill the void left by her. I want to sincerely thank her for all her help and support throughout the years. I also want to thank bong and Chewywon, who always supply the blog with beautiful headers.
In addition, thank you for your continuing support but please be patient and considerate. I strive to do my best but real life will always intrude. This is merely a hobby for me, sharing something I like and enjoy in my spare time. It is by no means a way to make money or seek fame. For those who may not be aware, Fanatical has 3 index pages so if you want to provide links for hoju or/and my translations, please use them, not the third-party websites. I am sorry if not all your comments are answered or your requests granted but I do appreciate them. I hope that you’ll still continue to support the blog and celebrate more milestone with me.
To celebrate the blog reaching its milestone, I’ll start translating a new novel which is outside my comfort zone. I want to challenge myself to do something different and have been spending a considerable amount of time to research, learn and translate all the gaming terms into English. I even contemplated testing out the game to get a feel for it but unfortunately I don’t have time. Do leave me a comment if I’ve made any error or omission but don’t be too harsh on me 😛 This novel has a significant amount of online gaming component but I don’t play online game at all. Needless to say, I don’t play King of Glory, a very popular MOBA (Multiplayer online battle arena) game which this novel is largely based on. The picture above is the hero Xiao Qiao in the King of Glory game.
Wishing those who celebrate, a happy Lunar New Year in advance!
Chapter 2
After being in the industry for seven to eight years, if one was to ask Qiao Jing Jing what was she afraid of, among one of them must be —— popular search in Weibo.
The hot topic on Weibo right now was “Qiao Jing Jing’s image has fallen apart.”
Clicking on the top post would bring you to a video posted by a commercial account used for marketing. In the video, an ID called Glittering (Shan Shan Fa Guang) was playing King of Glory, and the playing skills could be described as “absolutely awful,” with a motley of different ways of dying that you did not have the heart to even watch.
That commercial account also posted a few screenshots, the first few shots were Glittering’s track record that was oh so difficult to describe in words, low wining percentage, low ranking and no MVP (Most Valuable Player) vote. The last few shots were screenshots of some official announcements, each one also bragging that Qiao Jing Jing who was an ambassador of King of Glory was a game expert.
Fans in the comment section angrily demanded evidence that Glittering is Qiao Jing Jing. That commercial account unhurriedly replied: Then you get Qiao Jing Jing to come out and deny it.
Qiao Jing Jing cannot deny it because that really was her account.
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
“King of Glory” is one of Tencent online battle tower defense game. This game has close to 80 heroes, each hero has different abilities. After the player joined the game, he can choose to combat different heroes and people and to destroy the crystal at the enemy's core base to win. One of the most classic game mode is the 5v5 Antaris Battlefield. Qiao Jing Jing was playing this in the video exposed, using mage (a hero whose damage is based on their abilities rather than attacking) Xiao Qiao (Fa Shi Xiao Qiao) character.
Speaking of which, when Qiao Jing Jing became the ambassador, this game was not considered popular. However, big sister Ling noticed that her gamer husband was addicted to playing it every day, her intuition told her this game will become popular, so she took the initiative to contact the gaming company. Big sister Ling’s intuition was always correct when accepting acting roles for Qiao Jing Jing, this ability also reflected in the game ambassador selection.
King of Glory became extremely popular in a little more than a year time, resulting in being the number one mobile game of real national significance. As a result, Qiao Jing Jing also gained a lot of followers who were not her target audience, thus benefiting a lot.
But how much you benefited before, is how much trouble you are in now.
No one stipulated that the ambassador of the game must play the game well. However, when you projected yourself to be an expert with incomparable skills but turned out to be so poor, you cannot avoid people ridiculing you.
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
With a displeased look, big sister Ling was on the phone throughout the whole journey until arriving at the hotel in Hengdian. After sending Xiao Zhu away, she began to question Qiao Jing Jing.
“When did you start to play?”
“Half a year ago when I was filming a drama, altogether I only played for a little more than half a month. After being continuously killed by people, I stopped playing.”
“Who else knows you played?”
“I did not mention this to anyone, but I logged in with my WeChat account. It seems like if your WeChat friends also play this game, they will automatically appear in the game friend list, so I presume they can see me.” While talking, Qiao Jing Jing was a bit puzzled, “So how did it get recorded?”
“… King of Glory has a function to invite friends to watch the battle. You know, too, that WeChat friends will directly become game friends. That means they can watch you battle and also record it. Didn’t you know that?”
Qiao Jing Jing: “… There’s actually this function?”
Big sister Ling simply wanted to hit her: “Since you don’t know anything, why are you playing the game blindly?”
Qiao Jing Jing felt grievance: “After all I am the ambassador of the game, when you keep on projecting the image that I am a game expert, I do feel guilty ah … so naturally, I want to go and practice hard.”
Big sister Ling felt despair and murmured: “I should have known you have this problem.”
Whatever hot air you arbitrarily blew about her, she would really want to become what was in that hot air. Thinking about it now, it was lucky she had not moulded her into the foodie image that was currently popular, or else she might have already weighed two hundred jin (1 jin = 0.5 kg) by now.
“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have gone and played XX District with my hubby. If I would have used my WeChat account to play, I would have discovered earlier that you have been messing around.” Big sister Ling was kicking herself over this.
It was after she had followed her husband and also played for a while that she went to discuss about cooperating with Tencent. But due to busy workload, she gradually stopped playing. After successfully becoming the game ambassador, she let Qiao Jing Jing use her account to test out the game. But seeing that she really did not have what it takes to be a game expert, she no longer bothered about her. As the game ambassador, she only needed to post in Weibo, to address the audience and to pose for photos, but who would have imagined that she turned out to have such high aspirations, to go so far as to secretly play the game.
She walked anxiously around the room, “Don’t treat this as a trivial matter because do you know how many men and women are currently fighting over to become the game ambassador for King of Glory? Some even willing to do it for free. At first, the gaming company wanted to extend the contract with us, but after this incident, I am afraid it will be put on hold.”
“This is not the most important since first and foremost, you are an actress whereas being a game ambassador comes second. Being the lead actress in Director Li’s movie is most important, but what is the name of his movie? It is called (Truth)!”
Qiao Jing Jing has been in the entertainment industry for so many years and was an established leading actress, so she was certainly not naive or silly and immediately thought: “Do you mean that person released this video because of Director Li’s movie?”
Big sister Ling nodded, “I’ve a piece of news which I am not 100% sure, so I did not tell you. The news came from Director Li’s daughter camp, saying that Director Li had decided on using you. I think, other companies also knew about this news, so they’ve come to meddle.”
Qiao Jing Jing felt incredulous: “I played the game a few months ago. Isn’t that just a bit too much shrewd foresight and forethought ah?”
“I reckon they recorded this long ago, just waiting for the right time to release it when it does come in handy.”
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
While they were talking, big sister Ling’s mobile phone suddenly started to ring. She glanced at it, exhaled slowly and said “The phone call is from King of Glory office.”
Big sister Ling turned on her speakerphone.
The other person sounded a little anxious and talked rapidly. “Manager Qiu, I am Alex. What’s it all about the popular search today? Does that alternate account belong to Jing Jing? Is she trying to master a hero? Quickly go to Weibo and give an explanation.”
Big sister Ling almost wanted to slap the thigh and was moved until the eyes were red. Is there such a considerate partner? Who went so far as to help her to think of an excuse which she did not even think of before. She replied repeatedly: “Yes, yes, yes, she is mastering a hero’s skill. She was using the alternate account to master an unfamiliar hero’s skill, which was why she played like this.”
“Under such circumstances, it is still best to post in Weibo to explain the situation? Otherwise, it is rather awkward on our end.”
“Of course, of course, we’ll post in Weibo right away.”
“However, Manager Qiu, after our discussion here, it is not convincing enough by clarifying only in Weibo. It just so happens that we actually have an activity here which is appropriate to turn the current situation from a crisis into a win-win situation.”
Big sister Ling’s heart skipped a beat, cautiously asked: “What kind of activity?”
“It is like this, in a little more than a month time, the autumn tournament will come to an end. After that, there is a special annual awards ceremony, so we would like to invite Jing Jing to take part in an exhibition game at the awards ceremony. At that time, we’ll select 5 lucky players through Weibo, plus Jing Jing, totaling 6 people. They’ll be divided into two teams, each team has the right to choose two professional players as their team members. With a setup like this, it’ll surely draw a lot of interest.”
“… this ~ it seems like there is no such clause in our contract.”
Alex’s voice sounded a little displeased, “The contract also did not say such a video will appear unexpectedly. Merely an exhibition game, the players will be drawn randomly, so the standard should not be very high. Thus there is completely nothing to fear, unless ……”
The tone of his words rose upward in suspicion.
“This has nothing to do with whether the standard is high or low, but the contract ……” Big sister Ling was about to argue, but suddenly a voice interrupted.
“No problem! I can take part.”
The one who had spoken was Qiao Jing Jing. Big sister Ling quickly covered the telephone receiver and gnashed her teeth.
Alex was a little surprised, “Hey, the one who spoke just now is …..”
At this moment, Big sister Ling has no choice but to choose her words carefully: “It is Jing Jing, as you know, she is especially supportive of your game, usually very proactive in posting ads and Weibo. Actually, we do not get much endorsement fee from you.”
Alex: “Yes, of course, then …”
Big sister Ling reluctantly said: “Since she said no problem, can I still stop her? Let’s discuss the specific details.”
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
Ten minutes later, when big sister Ling hung up the phone, her face immediately fell. “With, with your skills, how can you go and play live? We’d already found an excuse. We could have just posted some scripted words to lead the direction of all the discussion and then everything would have been fine.”
Qiao Jing Jing has been playing with her phone and was greatly stirred up by the negative comments: “I did not play properly before. There is still more than a month to go, so can I not practice hard? I don’t believe, this is more difficult than getting my firm abs!”
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
After twelve o’clock at night, Qiao Jing Jing’s Weibo responded.
Qiao Jing Jing V:
Actually, this record is considered not bad. It was even worse when I used my main account to play Xiao Qiao, so I set up an alternate account to play at the bronze rank, thinking that I can be victorious at this rank! The outcome …… We both have the surname ‘Qiao’ but why can’t I master playing with her?
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
The crowd was a little muddled, but the fans reacted fast.
A Curious Heart: So this is Jing Jing’s alternate account? Set up an alternate account to master a hero she can’t play well, thinking that she can oppress the newbie but was tragically killed instead? Haha made me laugh for three minutes.
Wedrte ~: Saw and read clearly. It was her alternate account that she was using to practice different heroes. Are you good with every hero the instant you use it? Then even pro players aren’t as good as you.
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
K P L’s (King Pro League) official Weibo quickly followed after and made a post.
K P L King of Glory Pro League Tournament V:
During next month’s annual awards ceremony, the King of Glory’s ambassador @qiaojingjing will participate in an exhibition game with some lucky players. Are you looking forward to teacher Qiao Jing Jing’s Xiao Qiao? Then quickly come and sign up.
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
Qiao Jing Jing’s Weibo immediately forwarded this.
Qiao Jing Jing V: Already said, I won’t be playing Xiao Qiao. You can’t designate which hero for me!
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
Initially, the crowd was still a bit skeptical, but once the news was released by the official Weibo, the direction of the wind was completely reversed.
Suddenly many in the crowd realized that Qiao Jing Jing was not bad at playing the game, but bad at playing with this hero Xiao Qiao.
There can be a big difference here.
Actually, King of Glory has a few dozens heroes. Even the professional players also cannot master all of them, let alone the average players.
Big sister Ling has been staring fixedly at Weibo and unexpectedly found out that she did not need to find people to help with leading the direction of the discussions, as many players spontaneously came out to talk about their personal experience.
Drunken, handsome, suave young man (Chun Shan Bao Zui): I am a Jungler (member of a team that takes smite and starts the game killing units in the jungle as oppose to the lanes that the rest of his team starts in) 666 (a Chinese homonym for “niú niú niú” or "liù liù liù”, used to describe someone is very powerful, cool, impressive). I’m also a marksman, all marksmen suck! I’ve 21 stars.
Slippery Youngster (Youni Shaonian): King of Glory. I just wanted to know what kind of hatred exist between me and mage. Forever the damage output is no more than 15%. Every time will say in advance will not play solo mid in ranked match.
Triangle Theorem (Sanjiao Dingli): All also mages, but the difference is quite big between them. Xiao Qiao will also not work for me, the legs too short …… With Mai Shiranui (Huo Wu), I can be the carry (a hero who has the ability to take over games) for the entire game.
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
The matter was temporarily settled, so big sister Ling can finally breathe a sigh of relief. When she turned around, she saw Qiao Jing Jing seemed to be in lost in thought.
She waved her hand in front of her eyes, “Jing Jing.”
Qiao Jing Jing looked at her: “Big sister Ling, I seldom add acquaintance in WeChat.”
Big sister Ling comforted her by patting her shoulder. Actually, she was also very angry, “I’m going to find out who is behind this.”
“No need, it is my own fault, for giving people the chance to get hold of information that can be used against me.” Contrary to what one might expect, Qiao Jing Jing was very calm.
“Anyway, don’t be angry, it’s not worth it.”
“I won’t be angry, wait for me to make them hopping mad.” Qiao Jing Jing’s eyes were flickering, “You continue to negotiate with Director Li and I’ll find a reliable person to help me to practice the game. Filming here will be completed in a few days time. After that until the exhibition match, except for work already arranged, don’t arrange anymore work for me.”
Big sister Ling was surprised: “I’ve planned to give you half a month off. There is more than a month before the exhibition match, are you going to use all that time to practice the game?”
Big sister Ling was thinking of the amount of money they’ll be losing, feeling pain in the heart, “How much are you earning per day, is it worth it?”
Qiao Jing Jing handed over the phone to big sister Ling, showing the hot discussion in her Weibo. The fans have put behind their earlier unpleasant manner and were happily and excitedly cheering and celebrating.
If she were to lose the game a month later, the one being ridiculed will not only be her, but also them.
Big sister Ling sighed and understood, “OK, I’ll arrange them.”
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
Qiao Jing Jing got ready to go to bed, as there is still a day of filming tomorrow. The more moment like this, the more you want to be in the best condition. Big sister Ling also went to her room to sleep, but when reaching the doorway, she hesitated and turned her head, “Oh, right, Jing Jing.”
“Huh?”
“Although I also think that practicing the game and getting good at it is not any harder than working out to get firm, defined abs, for you, you only just lost a few pounds. You didn’t get any defined abs.”
Qiao Jing Jing: “……”